美国独立战争前后英国商人阶层对殖民地问题的反应

The Reaction of British Merchant Class to Colonial Problem before and after the American War of Independence

美国独立战争前后,英国商人阶层虽然反对政府对殖民地的高压政策并且主张母国与殖民地之间保持和平关系,但这些反应主要是在经济利益推动之下的权宜之计,而并非出于改变帝国内部关系的深远考虑。英国商人在对殖民地问题做出反应时,是以"不损害帝国主权"作为底线的。这种情况与英国商人阶层在英国政坛上缺乏足够的代表力量结合起来,限制了英国商人阶层在影响英国政府政策方面的效果。

Before and after the American War of Independence, although British merchant class opposed the coercion policy of the British government and hoped mother country can keep peace with its American colo- nies, their reaetion mostly was the expediency based on their economic interests, not on the long - term con- sideration of reforming British Empire＇s internal relationship. Therefore when British merchant class reacted to the colonial problems, their bottom line was ＂not to damage the sovereignty of empire＂. This condition, combined with British merchant class＇s insufficiency of representative in British politics, resulted that only when British merchant class united and was supported by British country gentleman, could they affect British Government＇s policy effectively.